Due to the effects of the Coronavirus, the Golden Sandie Marching Band has done many things to protect students and adapt to the changes in the new year. The most notable of these changes was the district decision to not compete in the yearly UIL marching contest. Although the marching contest is not happening, Director, Mike Ellis, still planned for the band to entertain half time with this year’s show Field of Dreams.
“I’m hoping they like it because it’s very accessible and everybody knows a little bit about baseball,” Ellis said. “It will be more audience-friendly than most of our contest year programs have been. This is a little bit lighter and a little bit easier for people to grasp onto.”
The directors were looking for something easier for the new year since there will be no competition pressure.
“It is important for us to go out and compete and to be compared against other bands at the end of the year,” Ellis said. “It’s good for us to spend more time on fundamentals to kind of get our skills back and regroup and then next year come out blazing.”
(Hannah Morrison)
The effects of the virus have created many guidelines the band has to follow. Ellis says that the band has followed as best as they can.
“Reacting to the virus, I think the band has done very well,” senior and drum major, Susanna Terrell said. “On the first leadership day, everyone was trying to find a way to make this work…We have been positive and looking on the optimistic side for what we can do with all these guidelines.”
The band had its ups and downs with strange attendance, weird schedules, and people quitting because of this virus.
“Everyone is taking it very well because we are staying on the positive side of things and we are just taking it like any other season,” sophomore, Mackenzie Cortez said.
